Motorists in Metro Detroit brace yourselves, construction chaos kicks off this weekend as the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) gets to work on a hefty $139 million road undertaking, sure to test the patience of commuters and local traffic. According to a CBS News Detroit report, the massive project aims to overhaul the freeway from Sheldon Road to Newburgh Road, including interchange ramps on M-14/I-96/I-275.
Starting at the crack of dawn Friday, May 10, Northville Road is getting shut down over M-14 for a month of bridge work, while a segment of eastbound and westbound M-14/I-96 between Sheldon Road and I-275 will see closures from 8 p.m. Friday until the early hours of Monday, May 13. Ramp closures, however, are a whole other ballgame. They include but are not limited to, eastbound M-14 to southbound I-275 and westbound M-14 to Sheldon Road, among others. Traffic is going to be tossed around on a series of detours, with westbound M-14/I-96 directed further north to westbound I-96 or on to westbound I-94, then looping back on US-23, and eastbound traffic pushed onto I-94, then back north on I-275 to catch I-96.
Local traffic isn’t off the hook either, they can snag eastbound M-14 up to Sheldon Road during this brouhaha. And it's not just a simple lay of pavement we're talking about here. This endeavor encompasses fixing up 17 bridges and giving the I-275 Metro Trail a fresh new look along M-14, as revealed by the Michigan Department of Transportation. All eyes are on the weather though, for it to commit to being on its best behavior to stick to the timeline.
Big bucks are in play, with the Rebuilding Michigan program and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law stepping in to foot the bill. A whopping 66 percent of the project's funds hail from Governor Gretchen Whitmer's initiative, aiming to perk up the state’s arteries that are vital to Michigan's lifeline. The rest of the purse strings, 33 percent to be exact, are drawn tight by federal law. All told this not-so-small fortune of $139 million is touted to buoy up to 1,974 jobs.
